RIVERINA League powerhouse Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong have locked in premiership coach Sam Martyn for another year.
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Both the Lions and Martyn explored other options before settling on a fifth year of the partnership in 2025.
Martyn led the Lions to the 2022 Riverina League premiership and has his team undefeated and on top of the ladder after 11 rounds this season.
After missing out on another prospective target, GGGM were able to beat a number of rival clubs from the Riverina, Farrer and Hume competitions to re-sign Martyn for another year.
Martyn took over from Christin Macri in 2021 and with no finals being played that year, boasts a 50 per cent premiership strike rate.
The 32-year-old, who spent two years on Adelaide Crows' list, was happy to extend his stay at the Lions.
"I did my due-diligence and spoke to a number of clubs from different competitions and areas and after hearing what they had to say and discussing with Ganmain, it was a pretty easy decision to stay in the end," Martyn said.
"With me potentially not having too much longer in the Riverina, I'd love to finish where I started and I came to the conclusion that it was best to stay at Ganmain and I was pretty thrilled to be able to announce that."
Martyn is cautious about staying on in the job too long and was happy for the club to explore other coaching options.
But after being assured his message was still getting through to the playing group, Martyn re-signed.
"My big thing was I don't want to get stale and be a voice that's overheard, which can happen at country footy clubs pretty regularly," he said.
While there is still so much still to play for this year, Martyn is confident the longer-term future at GGGM looks bright.
"In terms of this year, we were pretty blessed with our recruiting. You always have a list in terms of 100 different names and we were really fortunate that some of the names that were higher up on our list we were able to acquire in terms of Jack Powell and Tommy B," Martyn said.
"One thing I've found with Ganmain and the culture is players get ingratiated in it and they tend to stay for multiple years.
"So in terms of players buying into our program and our culture, we're hoping they stick around but if they don't, what's really exciting is the base of juniors we have coming through.
"We're seeing that too on show even though we're in a really good position as a first grade team, we've still managed to play three or four debutants this year from our 17s program and there's a number of others too who are really pressing.
"The club's really built for sustained success and it's really tricky to leave that."
After playing with GGGM in the 2020 AFL Riverina Championships, Martyn moved to Wagga and has led the Lions for three and a half years.
While he's said this before, Martyn is confident 2025 will be his last year in the GGGM coaching position.
"I think so. At this point of time," he said.
"I said it last year and I think I said it after my third year too that it was going to be my final year but I think that's a credit to the foundations and the culture of this footy club, it's left a lasting imprint on not only myself but my family.
"I think it's going to be my last year but probably don't hold me to it because I've definitely said that before."
